Fair trade chocolate

Chocoholics beware - the chocolate that you enjoy could be produced by children who have been forced to work and kidnapped from their homes. This actually happens. Children are taken from their homes and forced to work on chocolate plantations. Basically the only way to avoid this is either avoid chocolate like the plague or eat Fair Trade chocolate. The Fair Trade foundation ensure that producers do not use child or forced labour. Although it it fair to say that westerncentric values should not be forced onto other cultures, it is also fair to say that forced labour whether it forced on children or adults is morally wrong regardless of cultural experience. It is a breach of human rights. For my part, I can understand that in some countries child labour does take place and where this is the case, these children should be treated with a greater level of kindness that an adult should expect. None-the-less, children should not and cannot be forced to work. It has to stop. We have to stop it.

Buy Fair Trade chocolate. Write to chocolate manufacturers and demand that they become Fair Trade approved.

I'm currently trying to establish whether The Rainforrest Alliance approved chocolate (such as Galaxy) is suitable in terms of forced labour. At present, it's unclear. So Fair Trade is the only option.

Cadburys dairy milk is Fair Trade. The Co-op supermarket sell many Fair Trade products including their own brand chocolate. Divine is a Fair Trade chocolate manufacturer. Wherever you see the Fair Trade symbol you can be sure that it is Fair Trade.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/resources/natural_resources_institute.aspx

http://www.antislavery.org/english/campaigns/take_action/take_action_on_cocoa.aspx

Cycle of kindness

Keep Britain tidy was a slogan that you once saw everywhere, particular next to bins (sensible location for such signs). I have never been someone that litters. It bothers me when I see people throw their waste items to the ground without a moments thought for the consequences. I have often felt inclined to make comment but fear of repercussions / self-preservation prevents me. My boyfriend Mark is kind to the environment, it’s one of the reasons that I’m with him. He smokes (not so kind in that respect) but puts his cigarettes butts in a bin or down a drain (depending on the type). He even pockets the cigarettes butts to take home and dispose of in his own bin. How many people take the time to do that? I sometimes feel that Western society is so self-obsessed that many forget to think about issues beyond those of their back-garden. I mean that in the figurative sense.

All issues affect us directly or indirectly. If we think of cause and effect then it leads us to make more holistic decisions. If I drop a tin can on the ground - it may cause harm to an animal, it probably won’t get reused or recycled unless a more holistic thinker deals with the tin can appropriately, it doesn’t rot down, it remains part of the environment for years to come. If ten people drop a tin can on the ground imagine the effects of that and so on. All has consequences.

If you kick a wall you will hurt your foot, most people can see the effects of random wall kicking because it effects the self but if I shout at someone in the street, if I am cruel to them, if my words are harsh, I may walk away and forget it but will they? Will they go home and shout at their children who will in turn shout at their friends? There is a very good chance that they will and so the cycle of cruelity continues. Kind words and compassion have the power to improve things in the short-term and may start of cycle of kindness.

I try to behave with kindness. It's not always easy. It can take effort at times but it's truly worth it. Kind to the self, to others and to the space that we call home. By home I mean earth, all of it. Not just our house (if we are lucky enough to have one), not just our street, our town or country but all of the earth and all the people in it.

xxx

I once travelled to reality

I once travelled to reality. You know, that place that many people inhabit, often referred to as the ‘real world’. My life is firmly rooted in the world of fantasy. Sure enough I was born in a town, go to work, study and live on planet earth but the very fibre of being lives elsewhere. My soul resides in Neverland, a fairy kingdom, planet strange – take your pick really.

Back to reality – I travelled there once. I wanted to fit in so I travelled there in disguise, although I’m unsure why, no one would have recognised me. My passport was stamped, I stepped off the crazy plane and briefly embraced my new environment. I returned to pastures well-trodden and joyously odd relatively unscathed through my brief dance with reality.

Always be true to yourself. Don’t conform. Embrace your inner oddness. Have a kind heart. Uphold justice. Have love. Change the world so that all can live free and happy lives. Do all this whilst remaining firmly rooted in your own interpretation of a fairy kingdom. Avoid reality, it is but a silly place (a quote from Python’s Holy Grail tagged onto the end of my own).

Love to all,

Hazel

xxx